Art Basel 2018

Leon Kossoff is one of Britain’s greatest living artists, best known for his impastoed figurative and cityscape paintings and his heavy emphasis on drawing, both as a medium itself and as an intrinsic part of his painting process. Alongside his friend Frank Auerbach, Kossoff developed an extremely visceral, expressive mode of capturing post-war London, in both rough in-situ drawings and heavily reworked paintings. Kossoff’s more recent work is lighter in subject matter and palette, abandoning the dark urban grays and browns for a brighter range of colors. In 2002-08, he turned his attention to the cherry tree in his yard, painting it throughout the seasons with thick strokes of paint, resulting in a celebration of life.